


Worth more than You

by Canadiantardis



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, Hostage Situations, Implied Past Trauma, Imprisonment, Injury, Isolation, Manipulation, Minor Violence, Nightmares, Pandora's Vault, Platonic Relationships, They love each other platonically your honour, Two Shot, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), What-If, kinda???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28761147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: "The discs were worth more than you ever were!"Are they, really?
Relationships: Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & Ranboo, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 50
Kudos: 288





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's so many what-if situations going on about the prison and the fight with Dream that Tommy and Tubbo are gunna have eventually and I needed to get this idea out of my head. Enjoy!  
> POVs switch a bit but it should be easy to see when they happen~

Despite the sun nowhere near setting, the heavy canopy darkened the area significantly. The small clearing wasn’t spared by the thick expanse of leaves, although the ground was less unstable compared to the tightly bunched trees with the exposed roots, where two figures stood facing one another, one panting heavily from the fighting that had only now ended.

Dream held up two discs, the striped purple and white of Mellohi facing Tommy in an almost taunting way. He was so close, everything would be over and he wouldn’t have anything he cared about in the enemy’s hands.

Tommy lowered his weapon as Dream offered his discs out, but the moment Tommy stepped towards him, he pulled back. There was the faintest hint of a smile behind the mask that sent chills down Tommy’s spine. He knew that smile, the fakest of smiles like the cartoonish one on his mask, he saw it often back in exile, back when Dream tried to break him.

“You know, you almost had me, Tommy,” Dream said casually, like the three had not been ready to rip each other apart minutes ago until Dream called for a truce to hand over the discs, saying he was low - he didn’t look all that hurt, he was barely breathing any different from usual. “You almost made me really believe the only things that mattered to you were these flimsy discs.”

He looked at them, hiding the bit of his face that Tommy could see. “But these aren’t really things you’d do  _ anything  _ to protect anymore, right? These aren’t the  _ one  _ thing you truly care about.”

“The fu-” Just as quickly as Tommy had been about to snap at Dream for his cryptid words, they fizzled as he realized the third still hadn’t caught up, and Dream noticed the moment Tommy realized that.

He chuckled and stood up, tossing the music discs at Tommy’s feet, where they laid ignored by both as Tommy whipped his head around the area until movement caught his eye. Just over Dream’s right side, the dark purple of an enchanted netherite axe against the pale skin of his best friend, held by someone Tommy had once protected, cared for as a friend but now only saw as a traitor.

“Ranboo?” He had his weapon brought back up, but froze the moment the axe pressed hard against Tubbo’s neck, causing the other teen to press away from the blade as best he could. “What the fuck?”

Ranboo gave no response, and if Tommy had been a bit more perceptive, he would have seen how dull the enderman hybrid’s eyes were.

“Ah, but you care about  _ him, _ don’t you?” Tommy could hear the smirk in Dream’s voice and the urge to throttle the man was almost overwhelming, but he couldn’t do anything. Not with Tubbo’s life on the line like this. “The one thing you’ve always cared for, more than the discs, in fact?”

It was like the entire forest went silent, not even a rustle of leaves could be heard as Tommy glared daggers at the man in front of him, letting his fury show plainly as the coward hid behind a mask.

“Don’t you dare,” he swore. “Let. Him. Go.”

Dream chuckled, amused. “I don’t think I will, Tommy. I just found the one thing that may make you actually listen and behave. After all, you don’t want his blood on your hands, do you?”

Tommy growled, but his face went bloodless in fear as he looked over to Tubbo, who stood with his hands - when had they gotten bloody? where had his helmet gone? - in fists by his sides, almost on his tiptoes thanks to the angle Ranboo held the axe against his neck.

“Don’t worry, Tommy. He’ll be  _ fine,”  _ Dream said, stepping forward to loom over Tommy, as if he were trying to reassure him. “I never let harm come to the discs, I won’t let harm come to  _ your Tubbo.” _

Tommy instinctively brought a hand to his chest, where for months he had his compass until Doomsday, taking a step back with wide eyes.

“As long as you behave, of course,” Dream continued, and Tommy could easily see the smirk hidden under the mask, and he was torn between fury and terror.

* * *

_ Tubbo was having a bit of a struggle keeping up with Tommy as they chased after Dream through the forest. He cursed his short legs as he found himself falling behind little by little until he couldn’t see either of them anymore. He could still hear them, they hadn’t left him totally behind, but he was a fair distance from them, when something bodily slammed into him and they both fell to the ground. Tubbo’s helmet flung off and his head slammed against an exposed root and he saw stars, dropping his sword as he clutched his head, feeling the back of his head quickly grow sticky. _

_ It felt like he had only split the skin of his skull, nothing more, and he struggled to see what had hit him only to see what he was certain was a hallucination. Because it surely couldn’t be Ranboo standing up, netherite axe in hand. Surely not. _

_ Tubbo blinked rapidly as he scrambled to his feet, forgetting his sword entirely as one hand went to his head, and the other steadied him against a tree. _

_ “Ranboo? Wh-what are you doing here?” He questioned, trying for a smile, but the expression slipped once he got a good look at his friend. _

_ Something was very wrong. The first was the lack of crown over his hair, and said hair wildly messy, worse than normal. His eyes were dull, almost a grayish-tint to the normally vibrant - some would also say they were unusual, even for a hybrid - red and green, in a scarily reminiscent way Tommy’s eyes had been during his exile, or so he had been told by Ghostbur and Ranboo himself. _

_ “Ranboo?” Try as he might, Tubbo couldn’t get all the concern out of his voice. _

_ His friend never opened his mouth to speak as he strode over to Tubbo, leaving him no room to run and with the way the world swayed before his eyes, Tubbo would not have been able to get very far before falling over. _

_ “Ranboo! Stop! What are you doing?” _

_ His only answer was an axe dangerously close to his face, making him cross-eyed. _

_ “Come with me, or Dream kills Tommy,” Tubbo wasn’t sure what scared him more at the moment, the threat or the monotone way Ranboo spoke the words. He didn’t even sound like himself. _

_ He raised his hands in surrender, and Ranboo grabbed him mechanically. He held him by the arm and kept the blade of the axe just lightly pressed against his neck, and soon he was forced to march further into the forest, where they could soon hear Tommy and Dream speaking. _

_ Hearing Dream confirm that the discs no longer mattered to Tommy, yet it was Tubbo himself who he cared more for over anything else in the SMP, startled him more than he was ready to admit. He knew Tommy cared about him a lot, they were best friends, they were practically brothers after everything they had been through, but to hear it was like a weakness according to Dream sent a myriad of emotions through Tubbo. Anger and barely contained fury towards the masked man, fear as he glanced at the pained expression Tommy gave, the shock at the realization of how true Dream was about how Tommy felt about him, quickly followed by the frustration over his current situation and betrayal towards Ranboo for taking Dream’s side after everything. It made no sense, Ranboo had been fiercely against Dream before Doomsday, why would he side with him over Tubbo and Tommy? Why side against his own friends? _

_ A stray thought whispered to him, chilling him to the bones.  _ Had they ever been friends in the first place?

* * *

Dream waved a hand, palm down, over the space between him and Tommy, in a familiar fashion that had Tommy’s heart stuttering painfully as a deep hole appeared.

“Armour and weapons,” Dream ordered, and for a moment the forest faded away to a beachside area, smoking craters of the tent and Logstedshire. “You know the drill.”

Tommy stumbled over himself to get out of his armour, the armour he and Tubbo spent _hours_ grinding to get and enchant, dropping his weapons down the hole like his very life depended on it - _only this time, it wasn’t simply his own life that depended on it_ \- and he took a couple unsteady steps away from the hole as the familiar  _ hiss _ and  _ boom _ destroyed his belongings once again.

Dream chuckled, but Tommy refused to look up, wringing his hands as he fought to stay in the present but found the area flashing between the forest and the smoking craters of every place he had tried to call home, temporarily or otherwise.

The sounds of a small scuffle were what drew Tommy back to the present, as Tubbo struggled against Ranboo’s grip, both hands around the shaft of the netherite axe and pushing it away from his neck as hard as he could, Ranboo struggling to keep him still.

“Let, ugh, go!” Tubbo practically snarled, but his attention wasn’t even on Ranboo or the axe, but at Dream, who turned to look at the situation. Tommy had only seen him this furious twice, when he had been exiled, and when the community house had been destroyed. “You’re a bastard! When, I’ll-”

“Restrain him and take him to a safe location, would you?” Dream interrupted, waving a hand dismissively as he turned back to Tommy.

Ranboo moved without hesitation, wrapping his free arm around Tubbo’s neck as he put the axe away and grabbed Tubbo’s wrists, pulling him backwards into the thick of the forest. Just as he reached the edge of the shaded clearing, Tommy watched with wide eyes as the hybrid’s eyes glowed purple, and he and Tubbo disappeared, teleporting out of sight completely.

The last thing Tommy heard his best friend shout was his own name.

* * *

_ "Tommy!" _

_ The sensation of teleporting was always a queasy one for Tubbo, tenfold when he hadn’t been expecting to teleport. One moment he was cursing out Dream for forcing his friend to drop his weapons and armour down a hole, for blowing it up, and for seeming to enjoy the way Tommy’s eyes went glassy and dull and faraway. The next, he was struggling to stand upright as the arm of Ranboo almost strangled him, deep in the forest. _

_ But that wasn’t the end of the teleporting, it seemed, as every time Tubbo tried to blink and get a look at the area, it was an entirely different part of the forest until they reached a small encampment. _

_ And just like that, all the fight Tubbo had just moments before vanished, and he sagged into Ranboo’s armoured chest with a shaky, wet breath. He felt Ranboo’s arm loosen around his neck and a hand pushed on his shoulder until he was forcibly sat down in the middle of the encampment. _

_ The two sat in complete silence. Well, Tubbo sat, Ranboo stood nearby with his axe out and ready if Tubbo tried anything. Not like he knew where they were, or where that clearing had been. Not like he could do anything, he only had his diamond enchanted armour, and he was on his last legs, dizzy still from the blow to the head from the root. His sword was somewhere near the clearing, useless, and he knew fists were useless against netherite armour, especially when the armour was enchanted with Thorns. If he tried to fight Ranboo it was more than likely he’d be killed with little effort from the hybrid. _

_ He glanced up at his friend - he hoped he was still his friend, something wasn’t right with him, there had to be something wrong, this wasn’t like him at all - who was looking down at him with dull eyes, almost looking through him if anything. It sent a chill down his spine, like Ranboo had no idea who was in front of him, no idea what he had even done. _

_ A little chirp sounded, and the two both jumped at the same time, before Ranboo grabbed his communicator, his eyes flicking through the private message before he moved again. He grabbed at Tubbo’s shoulder and pulled him up, causing the world to spin around him nauseatingly. _

_ Tubbo grabbed Ranboo’s arm to steady himself when he felt them teleport again and all he could do was hold on to the hybrid as he was taken somewhere else, somewhere probably far, far from his best friend. _

* * *

Tommy tried barrelling over Dream to find out if he could follow the enderman hybrid and his best friend, but the masked man only had to put an arm across his chest and hold him back with ease.

“Tubbo!” He shouted, glaring daggers at the remaining person in the clearing. “Prick. Where are they going?”

“Manners, Tommy,” Dream pushed him away. “Remember, his blood will be on your hands if you try anything.”

Tommy curled his lips in a snarl as his heart shattered to pieces. He needed to stay strong and refuse to back down, for his friend’s sake. “Where did they go?”

“Don’t worry so much. I said I won’t harm him as long as you behave. He’ll be fine,” the smirk in Dream’s tone frustrated Tommy more than anything.

“You’re a right bastard, you know that?” Tommy spat, squeezing his hands into fists until they shook - he refused to admit they were shaking before he made them into fists - by his sides.

Dream only chuckled in response. “Say what you want about me, but I’m not the one who started this.”

“Yes! Yes you were!” Tommy shouted, glaring at the masked man. “You caused _all_ of this!”

“Did I?” He tilted his head in a condescending way, and Tommy saw the smirk on his face. “If I recall properly,  _ you _ were the one to start everything. Attacking the others for no other reason than boredom, stealing from everyone, being the biggest thorn in my side for a long time now, Tommy.”

Tommy winced at the words, his fists no longer the only thing about him shaking. His shoulders shook with barely contained anger or fear or sorrow - he couldn’t tell, maybe it was all the emotions - that made it hard to appear very put-together. It made it hard to appear like he wasn’t about to fall apart, defeated after he lost his best friend to the damned bastard in front of him.

“You’ve caused nothing but trouble. Thievery, arson, rebellion, revolution,” Dream continued, taking a step towards him, which caused Tommy to stumble back. “I really would have thought Tubbo  _ exiling _ you would have made you learn, but clearly that hadn’t done anything.”

“Sh-shut the fuck up,” Tommy cursed how his voice wavered ever so slightly. _ “You _ did all of this! Yo-you, I wouldn’t have been such an arsehole if you hadn’t stolen my stuff.”

“You stole from people first!” Dream shot back and Tommy flinched back as the masked man took another step towards him. “You deserved  _ everything _ that happened to you, Tommy. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

Suddenly, a tree was pressed against Tommy’s back, and Dream loomed over him despite the fact they were very nearly the same height.

“You’re too reckless to stay out. You’ll only hurt more people, like you’ve hurt your own supposed best friend. Time and time again,” Dream said, and every word was like a sword through the heart and Tommy couldn’t argue, he couldn’t fight back.

His eyes and throat burned and it was difficult to breathe. “What do you want, Dream,” he spoke in a watery voice, feeling his cheeks wet as tears slipped down.

“You need to be contained so you won’t continue to cause shit,” Dream answered, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. “Luckily, I know the perfect place to keep you from hurting more people.”

* * *

_ Tubbo had to drop all his belongings, his armour, everything until he only had the clothes on his back when he arrived at the ridiculously large prison-like structure - it wasn’t prison-like, he berated himself, it  _ was _ a prison - through the portal with Ranboo keeping a strong grip on him. Sam watched with a hidden expression, though he shuffled uncomfortably side to side. He wore a warden pin, and Tubbo couldn’t tell if he was nauseous at the sight of it or because of the blow to his head from before - he was fairly certain he had a concussion, but the blood had stopped weeping out of the wound at least, though he still needed to get it fixed up soon - but he felt sick to his stomach either way. _

_ When everything was taken from him, Sam approached, his expression still as difficult to see as before. He nodded to Ranboo and grabbed Tubbo’s upper arm, not roughly but not gently either. _

_ Tubbo looked at Ranboo for a long second. The two had been absolutely silent except for when they arrived at the prison, where Ranboo said Tubbo was to be taken to the ‘main cell’ which had caused Sam’s entire body language to go stiff. _

_ “I thought we were friends, Ranboo,” Tubbo said, almost in a whisper, but he saw how the enderman hybrid’s ears twitched, and his eyes brightened a bit only to quickly fall into confusion. “I was always your friend, Ranboo, no matter what you did.” _

_ Sam pulled him along, away from the other hybrid, and further into the prison. _

_ Just before they were out of earshot, Tubbo heard Ranboo, his voice softer, much younger than he was, not monotone like last time. _

_ “Tubbo?” He sounded like a lost child. _

_ The walk with Sam was deathly quiet as he was taken into the prison proper. His eyes almost bugged out at the vault entrance, as it opened and he was led in. _

_ All too soon, he was brought before a cell, a rather large cell that looked like it could fit the entire population of early days L’Manburg, and he was lightly pushed in. He stumbled in, turning to Sam standing in the doorframe. _

_ “A nurse will be by to patch up your head,” his tone was clipped and stiff, and Tubbo looked away. Sam had always been super cool, helping him with his projects when he struggled to figure out what he had a problem he couldn’t figure out on his own. It felt like someone had wrapped a too-tight rubberband around his heart as he stood across from the creeper hybrid, prisoner and warden. _

_ “Sam-” Tubbo tried, but Sam raised a hand to stop him. _

_ “I’m sorry. You’ll be safe here, at least,” he said, before shutting the cell door with a heavy  _ clang.

_ Tubbo listened as the creeper hybrid walked away, until he heard nothing at all except his own sobs as he dropped to his knees. He desperately hoped Tommy was okay, out there. He desperately hoped Tommy would save him. _

* * *

“Drop. Everything.” Dream ordered as soon as they stepped through the portal that brought them to what Tommy could only describe as a prison.

“Fuck you, Dream,” Tommy spat in return, though he did as he was told, and soon all of his remaining belongings he had had on him for the fight were taken away by the creeper hybrid that Tubbo liked to work with a lot on his builds. The hybrid had a neutral expression, hidden behind a creeper mask, though he flinched at the glare Tommy gave him. It seemed everyone who Tommy or Tubbo trusted, who they thought were cool or friendly or something, everyone would ultimately betray them.

When - not  _ if, _ but  _ when,  _ he was so certain it would happen eventually - Tubbo saved him, Tommy was going to be sure he would never let his best friend get hurt again by asshole fake friends. Tubbo didn’t deserve it, he was a good person. Too good, even for him, but damn if he wouldn’t do anything to have someone like Tubbo by his side through everything, good or bad, ugly or beautiful, happy or sad.

“Take him to a cell, Sam,” Dream ordered, putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder and gave it an uncomfortably tight squeeze. “One of the middle ones, so he won’t try anything stupid.”

“What about t-” Sam started, when Dream interrupted him with a shake of his head.

“We’ll discuss that after he’s finally locked up,” Dream said. “He finally won't be able to hurt anyone else.”

Tommy flinched and almost welcomed Sam’s more gentle hand around his upper arm compared to Dream’s painful grip.

He was tugged along, not roughly, but definitely not gently, and it only caused Tommy to despise how Sam would willingly do what Dream said, without arguing or fighting back. Had he ever even been on Tommy’s side? Had he ever been his or Tubbo’s friend? He paid no attention to the environment, too angry to do anything except walk and stop himself from trying to throttle the hybrid holding him, guiding him to his prison cell, until they were suddenly there.

It was small, smaller than even the little dug-out spot he had created under Techno’s house, back when he had first escaped Dream’s clutches, just enough space to pace a bit and a bed wedged into a corner.

Tommy was nudged in, and he turned to glare at Sam as he stepped into the cell, his lips curled up in a fierce snarl he had started copying from Techno, internally pleased with the flinch Sam gave in return.

“Fuck you, dickhead,” he growled, taking a small bit of pride at how Sam couldn’t say anything to his defense.

The door shut between them.

“I’m sorry,” Sam spoke very softly, the hiss of his creeper half coming out a bit more.

“Sorry doesn’t take back the fact you’re a traitor like everyone else,” Tommy snapped back.

He wasn’t sure how he felt when all he heard in return were the footfalls of the creeper hybrid walking away.

He turned away from the door, fell face-first onto the bed, and screamed into the mattress, ignoring the burn behind his eyes and throat, ignoring the way his heart shattered knowing that Dream had finally won.

* * *

Ranboo blinked as he found himself in his panic room, every inch of the walls covered in signs and ripped out pieces of paper.

_Trust Dream._ _DON’T TRUST DREAM._ _He lies._ _He’s your friend._ _He hurts your friends._

 _Help him._ _HELP THEM._ _Don’t help them._ _Help friends._ _Help Tubbo_ _._ _Help Techno._ _Help Dream._

**_Choose people, not sides._ **

**_Dream is the reason._ **

**_You are fine._** _You are broken._ _You are hurt. Do better, be better._

He turned around and around in circles, reading and rereading the signs and the scraps of paper, how some words were scratched out, others were bolded or underlined, with “Choose people, not sides” front and center.

“What happened…” He whispered. He remembered… He remembered seeing Tubbo, who looked hurt, his eyes squinting and blinking rapidly like he hit his head. He remembered Sam moving Tubbo away from him, pulling him away, through a hall of black brick.

He remembered Dream’s voice, ordering something of him.

Heart in his throat, he frantically searched for his memory journal, flipping through the pages to the most recent entry.

_ Dream wishes to speak with me. I don’t want to, but I can’t hide from him, I know that. Don’t trust anything he says. Don’t let him hurt our friends. _

_ I think I helped Dream imprison Tubbo. _

He took a breath, ears flat against his skull as he read the rushed, slanted handwriting.

“Oh, god, no,” he whispered, unable to speak up. He pushed himself to a corner of the room, drawing his legs to his chest to make himself as small as he possibly could, shaking his head.

Picking up his quill in a shaky hand, Ranboo wrote in unsteady script.

_ Save your friends. Don’t listen to Dream. Remember your friends. Techno. Phil. Tubbo. Tommy. Tubbo and Tommy are in danger. _

He wasn’t entirely sure if Tommy was included with his memory of Tubbo, but it would make sense, he figured hysterically. The two were close, they held those compasses at all times until they were gone, they fought but made up quickly, they were best friends, something Ranboo envied and vied for with his poor soul, who had been so alone for so long.

Tubbo had always been kind, even if it confused him. Even after all the horrible things he most likely did, and the ones he distinctly knows he did wrong. Tubbo still cared for him. Tubbo never hated him, never hurt him. Tubbo had been his friend since they first met.

_ “I thought we were friends, Ranboo,” _ Tubbo’s heartbroken voice startled him, the memory as loud as the present.  _ “I was always your friend, Ranboo, no matter what you did.” _

Ranboo had to fix whatever horrible thing he did this time. For Tubbo. For his friends.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote the first part, I had not been expecting this kind of turn-out, and the enthusiasm to continue created this second part. Hope yall enjoy!

Tommy hated routine. Monotonous, boring routine, specifically. Wake up, pick at the food he was given before he pushed it back, scheduled walks to the empty yard so he wasn’t exactly trapped in the ridiculously tiny cell that had become his ‘home’ for the past month and a half, return to it for lunch. The only thing that broke the routine, in a word, was that the afternoon wasn’t always the same. Some days he’d be stuck in his cell without a soul to speak to - not that he’d want to, anyone that tried would only get a death glare for their troubles because they were traitors, afterall - while others he’d be allowed to take walks to the yard, or even times when…

Dream stood on the other side of the cell, his mask and greenness cut apart by the iron bars that was the only protection from Tommy’s simmering anger.

“Hello, Tommy,” Dream greeted like they were friends, like Tommy didn’t hate him with his entire being, like he hadn’t taken Tubbo away from him.

“Fuck off, prick,” Tommy spat as he looked away from the masked man.

“Oh, come now, Tommy, I just wanted to see how you were doing,” he had the _audacity_ to sound friendly, but Tommy had to remind himself of the last time Dream pretended to be friendly with him. Exile. “I know you hate being left alone.”

“Yeah? I wonder who’s fault it is that I can’t see anyone anymore?” Tommy asked sarcastically. He knew if he started to believe a word out of the masked man’s hidden mouth, he’d just turn back into that mess he had been before. He had made a promise to himself he wouldn’t break again, until Tubbo found a way to rescue him.

“We both know the only person you have to blame for this is yourself,” Dream leant against the wall, his damned mask taunting him.

“I was a  _ kid, _ Dream,” Tommy snapped his head up to glower at the masked man. “I was a kid when this started.” He laughed without a hint of humour. “I still  _ am _ a kid, in case you forgot, bitch ass.”

“Age doesn’t matter in this context, Tommy,” Dream rebutted, and Tommy had to take a deep breath to stop himself from trying to throw himself at the bars. “Age doesn’t matter when you’ve stolen, committed arson, committed  _ treason. _ Don’t try to use that excuse on me.”

“No, I think I  _ will, _ Dream, because everyone seems to forget that little fact,” Tommy had to fist his hands in his bed sheets to keep him on the bed. “I was a kid doing dumb shit and instead of being responsible adults, all any of you ever thought was to hurt me. I know I’m an asshole sometimes but have you ever thought it was because I didn’t know better?”

“You should have known better.”

“No! I shouldn’t have! I was bloody fifteen, you son of a bitch!” The perks of being left to one’s thoughts for so long, without the interruption of a horrible person like Dream constantly, was that Tommy had had a lot of time to think about the things he had done. He had done stupid shit, he knew that, the adults never let him _not_ know that, but they also never offered to help him either. Wilbur had been the closest, early on, before L’Manburg had become more than the caravan and some black brick walls, but he hadn’t helped curb the need to cause a bit of destruction. In fact, he encouraged it, given the circumstances.

Tommy could only hold himself accountable for so much, and he did. However, he also knew that the adults around him did _jack shit_ until things got too big, too political, and then they got furious. A real all-or-nothing attitude.  


Dream sighed and shook his head, like a disappointed parent, and Tommy swore he saw red for a moment.

Before he could open his mouth, however, Tommy shouted. “Don’t you fuckin’  _ dare,  _ Dream! You don’t get to go on your fuckin’ high horse and condemn me for being a stupid teenager when you did  _ nothing _ to help me. You don’t get to tell me jack shit after the shit you did to me and Tubbo!”

“You don’t get to decide when your age matters, Tommy!” Dream spoke over him. “You always say you’re a ‘big man’ so why would we try to treat you like a child?”

“Because I am one!”

“Then maybe you should have acted like one.”

This got Tommy to see red and he jumped at the bars, managing to thrust an arm between them and snag a fistful of the masked man’s hoodie. “I did, you son of a bitch! What the fuck is the matter with you?!”

Tommy continued to curse Dream out, even as the man gripped his wrist with enough strength to almost snap it. He did no such thing, luckily, only taking a step back and letting his wrist go once he was out of reach. Tommy retracted his hand as if burned, rubbing his wrist.

“Go away,” he said softly, his throat wrecked from the shouting and cursing.

“Aw, but I wanted to keep you company, Tommy,” Dream tilted his head in what Tommy could only believe mock confusion. “You never liked being alone, after all.”

“I’d take a lump of shit over you for company,” Tommy felt tired as the anger burned away. He could only keep himself angry for so long before he burned himself. “Just. Go away.”

Dream stood still for a bit longer until he shrugged. “Okay,” he said simply, and Tommy looked away as the masked man walked away.

Once he was out of earshot, Tommy took his first real breath since the man had appeared, finding it was shaky and short. Visits from the man weren’t often, not by a mile, but they were slowly wearing the teen down. It hurt how a part of him craved any sort of company, that part of him that reminded him of his lowest points in exile, and he wished to crush it to fine dust but it was stubborn, and Dream coming by never helped.

Tommy sat down on the bed, pulling his legs up to his chest, and struggled to breathe.

* * *

_ Tubbo was absolutely losing his mind. He hated it in his cell, though he was grateful it wasn’t too small - the smallest blessing he could give to this place - since he had seen the other cells when he had been brought to his own. Those would have certainly brought back bad memories he did not know if he’d be able to cope with. _

_ He pressed his back against one of the walls, back straight and legs crossed loosely, trying to attempt meditation for the fourth time that day. He couldn’t leave his cell. It was worse than solitary confinement, he thought, as all other stories he had seen where prisons were depicted always spoke about how prisoners could leave their cells for a little bit and mingle with one another or something. _

_ Not that he knew if there were other prisoners currently with him. It was impossible to hear anything outside his cell, except the footfalls of whoever was walking right outside his door. _

Footfalls…

_ Tubbo snapped his eyes towards the door, knowing what it meant when he heard footfalls outside of the allotted mealtimes. _

_ A single knock on the door before it swung open, revealing Sam and Dream. Dream nodded to the creeper hybrid, like he always did when he went to visit Tubbo, stepped into the cell and allowed the door to swing back shut. _

_ Dream never wore armour when he went to visit Tubbo, and a part of him hated that, knowing it was because he thought Tubbo wasn’t strong enough to take him down - the same part also knew he  _ wasn’t _ strong enough to take Dream down by himself, and he hated that part of himself. _

_ “So, Tubbo, how have you been?” Dream asked casually and Tubbo scowled at him. _

_ “Do you even really care about an answer?” He retorted, though his voice was soft. He learned early it was useless to shout or get super angry. _

_ Dream shrugged and approached Tubbo, sitting down across from him easily, stretching his legs out. “Not really. Thought I’d be polite still, though.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ His answer was a stare and Tubbo had to wonder if he rolled his eyes or not behind the mask. “You’re still Tommy’s one thing he cares about. Can’t have you dying on me or something stupid.” _

_ That was all he was to Dream, Tubbo knew, a bargaining chip, like a twisted sort of trophy, and it shattered him every time he was reminded. He flinched at the reminder, eyes downcast to his lap where his hands shook ever so slightly. _

_ And yet, Tubbo couldn’t stop the words from escaping his lips. “Have you seen him? Tommy?” _

_ “Yeah, a bit ago,” Dream replied airily, clearly unbothered. “Only for a little bit, though, he looked pretty busy.” _

_ Tubbo blinked and glanced up at the damned mask. “Do you… know what he was doing?” He asked, a matchstick flame of hope flickering inside him. _

_ Dream shrugged. “Didn’t look really important. He was listening to one of his discs too.” The flame went out.  
_

_ He couldn’t stop the sigh that slumped his shoulders forward. Dream had always been vague about anything that had to do with Tommy, not that the topic of him came up often. _

_ “You know he won’t be able to find you, right?” Dream asked, startling Tubbo. “I had this place to be impossible to break in or out, remember?” _

_ One of the first visits Dream had with him, he told him just how impressive the prison was. Elder guardians under the prison, which meant mining fatigue, which meant even attempting to scratch at the walls with his hands would take years to break through. Not to mention the several layers thick walls of obsidian and other tough stones that Tubbo would sooner die of old age than break out of. Then there was the failsafe that the only exit was through a giant nether portal that was locked up. _

_ If Tubbo hadn’t been a prisoner, he would have loved to gush about the designs and flip out over how Sam had done this all. But as he was, it was depressing how every single idea had been thought of and countered. _

_ “You underestimate Tommy,” Tubbo crossed his arms over his chest, dropping his gaze again. _

_ Dream laughed and Tubbo winced at the sound. “I don’t think I do, actually.” _

_ “Did you want something specific here, Dream? Or did you just want to come to gloat?” Talking to the masked man drained so much of Tubbo, even more than the Elder Guardians. _

_ “Not a specific reason. Just thought you could do with some company.” _

_ “You know I’d take literally anyone in the SMP over you to keep me company.” _

_ “Even Ranboo?” Tubbo visibly flinched at the name, ducking his head down to hide his face as much as he could with his hair from the masked man. _

_ He had no idea how to feel about Ranboo. At first, he had been certain something was wrong with him, because they were friends. They had to have been friends. But as the days became weeks and he had only his thoughts to occupy his time, he began to doubt. Ranboo had often lied to him, whether because of his memory problems or purposeful but it was so hard to figure out when it was one or the other, and the moment the thread had been exposed, the tapestry began to unravel, riddled with doubts and second-guessing. _

_ A stray thought had planted itself,  _ What if Quackity had been right to want to execute him?

_ Try as he might, the thought would not leave. _

_ He left the question unanswered. _

_ Dream sighed softly. “Well, in any case, you don’t get the privilege of seeing anyone besides me, so talking in hypotheticals is useless.” _

_ “I’d rather be alone then,” Tubbo said to the floor. “Least then I wouldn’t be manipulated into thinking you were my friend again.” _

_ Dream chose not to answer and he stood up. Tubbo did not watch as he left the cell. _

* * *

Ranboo sheltered himself under a large tree as the rain fell, looking over at the other rain-sensitive being beside him. It had taken some time to find the ghost, but Ranboo was persistent, even keeping a note in his journal that he needed to find Ghostbur and a specific question to ask him once he was found.

Yet now that he was with him, Ranboo couldn’t figure out how to speak. Blue seeped from the ghost's open wound, and it looked like he was constantly crying blue since Doomsday. Ghosts couldn’t cry real tears, Ranboo noticed, but the blue streaks from his eyes worried him nonetheless.

“How long do you think it’ll rain?” Ghostbur asked airily.

“Hopefully not too long, Ghostbur. Sorry to have caught you in the rain like this. But hey, we’re not stuck out alone!” He tried for encouraging, but he couldn’t be sure how genuine his voice sounded like. He hadn’t been sure for several weeks now.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right, Ranboo! It’s not very nice to be left alone.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ranboo wrung his hands, internally pushing for himself to speak about it.

“Are you okay, Ranboo?” He jumped at the ghost’s question, ears perked up and back in alarm. “Sorry, sorry! Have some bl-right.”

He no longer had blue to give, any he touched would become absorbed and new tear-tracks would form.

“No, no, you’re good, Ghostbur, I just… I’ve been looking for you, for a bit actually.”

“Oh? Why?”

Ranboo shuffled to sit down and Ghostbur slowly drifted down to follow, watching him but not in a way that normally left him agitated due to the direct eye contact.

“I… I think I betrayed my friends, or well, I think they were my friends, they never made me feel scared or unwanted or anything, and I’ve always wanted to be nice with them, but I’ve been remembering or almost remembering or writing down little things I remember for a moment and I… I think I broke their trust, really badly.”

“What did you do?” Ghostbur asked with a sense of childlike innocence that Ranboo had only ever known him for.

“I… I don’t know, really. I don’t remember everything, but I… I think I helped…” Ranboo took a deep breath, eyes anywhere but at the ghost beside him. “I think I helped Dream take Tommy and Tubbo away.”

The only sound to be heard was the rain and Ranboo’s own breathing. No one knew what really happened to Tommy and Tubbo, he had learned over the first few days. Snowchester was now abandoned when Jack noticed Tubbo never returned that day, the small cabins dark and quiet, the tower and the docks empty, not even the dolphins stayed. It was unsettling, when Ranboo checked the little “sanctuary” as Tubbo proclaimed it, and he saw how the potato farm was overrun with weeds and broken apart by mobs.

But it also seemed no one  _ cared _ that the duo were gone. Niki had seemed frustrated, but when Ranboo overheard a conversation between her and Jack, it was more that she ‘hadn’t done it herself.’

Ranboo had made a new category in his journal, under “Stay Away,” which was “Never Trust” and put Niki’s name, Jack’s name - who agreed with her before Ranboo had fled - and Dream’s name.

“Oh, I’ve been wondering where they had gone. I miss talking to Tommy,” Ghostbur said simply, not looking at Ranboo anymore, but at the rain just barely out of reach. “I hope they’re okay. Do you know where they are?”

“Not, not really,” all he could remember were black bricks, the last time he saw Tubbo, the last time he heard him remind him how they were friends, no matter what -  _ were they still friends if he had betrayed him worse than simply being friends with Techno and gave his secrets to the man who had done this to them? Could he call himself Tubbo’s friend after that? _ \- but he had no idea about the location. He hadn’t written it down, and knowing what little he did about Dream, he was fairly sure the two could be literally anywhere, near, far, he had no idea.

“That’s too bad,” Ghostbur hummed, and perked up as the rain started to taper off. “Oh! It’s slowing down!”

Ranboo couldn’t find the words anymore as he watched the rain turn to a drizzle before it stopped completely. Ghostbur took a chance and stuck his hand out, smiling lightly as not a drop of water hit him and he sped out from under the tree. The enderman hybrid couldn’t say he was surprised how the conversation hadn’t gone how he wanted it. He had been hoping for some advice, but if there was anything he actively retained, it was the fact that the amount of actually helpful adults were a slim fraction of the population.

Originally, Ranboo had wanted to talk to Phil or Techno, but they weren’t friends, or even friendly, with Tommy or Tubbo - even though they had been role models for the two growing up, he had been told once or twice, family but not - and all the others didn’t care, again, so Ranboo’s only option was a ghost who was as amnesiac as he and just as useless as Ranboo felt.

He sighed and stood up. If he had to do things by himself, he would.

He thought about the last time he had seen Tubbo, the figure that had taken him away. Maybe, just maybe…

* * *

_ Tubbo slept fitfully, trapped in a nightmare he couldn’t wake from. Walls pressed up against him, trapping him in place as the looming figure, different from normal, a porcelain smiley face covering the head, leveled the rocket launcher right at him. Try as he might, Tubbo couldn’t escape, couldn’t dodge as the firework was fired- _

_ He woke up with a scream and a strangled sob, hands scrambling around his clothed chest, wrapping around his neck as he felt the raised skin of the burn scars. He struggled to take in air, unable to see where he was for several minutes until he could gasp in enough air. _

_ With a choked sob, Tubbo brought his hands down, wringing them in an attempt to stop them from shaking. He hadn’t had that nightmare in particular in a long time, and the memory of waking up in agony, bandaged to the point of looking like a mummy from the waist-up, barely able to see or open his good eye for a long time because it made his burned eyelid twitch in an attempt to copy the good one, continued to unsettle him well past how long it had been since the first festival. _

_ It took some time to calm himself down, but as he did, he swung himself off his bed to pace. He needed the excess energy given to him from the nightmare, wishing he had something, anything, to distract him from his own head. Someone to talk to, about anything if only to stop the world from flashing such bright colours behind his eyes, even though nothing was really happening. He wished Tommy was nearby, Tommy would know just what to do or say and distract him and they’d laugh and laugh and  _ laugh, _ until finally exhaustion could catch up to them both and they’d fall into a dreamless sleep. _

_ Tubbo continued to pace, running shaky hands through his hair, pushing it out of his face, and wished he was anywhere but here. _

* * *

Tommy was surprised by the break of routine soon after finishing his morning meal. Sam rarely visited him unless he had tried getting physical with the guards - his early days had been like that constantly - and Tommy had done nothing to need the dumb warden to see him.

“What do you want.” He snapped at the creeper hybrid, though there wasn’t much venom in his tone. Day by day, Tommy noticed how the anger and fire inside him grew colder and colder as the fight slowly died within him.

Still, Sam grimaced at the tone, yet he continued to unlock the door to Tommy’s cell. “Wanted to know if you wanted to take a little walk with me,” his mouth clicked some of the words, something common amongst the creeper hybrids. They hissed and clicked a lot when they spoke if they weren’t trying not to.

Tommy watched him with wary eyes, but the warden’s dumb mask hid most of his expressions, like Dream, but at least the warden’s mask wasn’t a dumb smiley face taunting him even when he slept. After a moment, he sighed heavily and nodded.

“Why do you want to walk with me?”

“I, uh, well, you’ll see,” Sam stepped back and held the cell door open.

Tommy stepped out, and soon his cell door was shut and his upper arm was held firmly but not harshly. Precautions and all that shit.

“What did you want to talk about, huh?” Tommy asked.

Sam sighed - well it would be more accurate to say he hissed - softly as they walked slowly through the prison, but not in a direction Tommy was familiar with, he realized belatedly. “I need to know what… I… Why did Dream do this?”

Tommy scoffed out a laugh. “Almost, what, two months? Of me being a damn prisoner here and you don’t know why this happened?”

Another hissy sigh was his only answer. Tommy went quiet, looking down at the floor while they continued to walk.

“He was going to kill Tubbo or something if I didn’t come here,” he said. “He said I was too _dangerous_ for everyone's safety to be outside, which is bullshit, but…”

He shook his head, blinking quickly as a stupidly familiar burn behind his eyes made itself known. “My track record isn’t the _best.”_

A soft laugh, not unkind, came from the warden. “So I’ve been told. But that’s not really your fault.”

Tommy scoffed again. “Tell that to every other adult I’ve ever met, asshole. Tell that to fucking Dream.”

The creeper hybrid went quiet after that, and it was then that Tommy realized they had been walking in a direction he had never been to before.

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Ah, someplace Dream doesn’t want you anywhere near,” Sam said simply, and if that wasn’t the most cryptid shit Tommy had heard from the hybrid before. “We’re almost here.”

“Wha-” Tommy tried to ask when he noticed a large door coming up ahead.

The two walked towards the door, and Tommy was gestured to stay put as Sam pulled out his keycard, unlocking the door and easily opening.

For a moment, Tommy couldn’t tell what he was supposed to notice about the interior of the room, but found it was much, much larger than his cell. It was pretty bare, similar to his own with only a bed as furniture.

That was the last thing Tommy noticed before he saw movement and his eyes snapped to it, only to widen them like they’d pop out of his head.

Eyes red-rimmed, hands shaking like an addict going through withdrawal, hair mussed in the bad way, clothes rumpled but cleaner than the last time he had seen him.

“Tubbo?” Tommy whispered the words like a prayer, and the other boy simply stared, his mouth twisting like he was going to say something but nothing came out.

A light hand barely pressed against Tommy’s back before he lunged into the room, booking it to the figure and slamming into him so hard they fell into a pile of limbs and, yea, that hurt like a fucker, but Tommy couldn’t care because Tubbo was there, _he was right there,_ he was able to hold him and feel his arms wrapped around his waist and hear that damned disbelieving, airy laugh, and-

“Tommy, you’re here,” the words were so watery and shaky, Tommy was surprised they were still coherent syllables, and he laughed weakly, burying his head into his shoulder so no one could see him cry - he couldn’t even argue he wasn’t crying, he didn’t want to argue at this point.

“I missed you man,” he whispered, unable to get his voice to work properly.

* * *

_ The two held each other for a long, long time, before finally Tubbo had to find out what was happening. How had Tommy found him? Why was Sam outside the cell, wouldn’t he have tried to stop Tommy or something? There were so many questions and he had to ask them before something stopped them again. _

_ “How did you find me?” He asked, his voice weak still from the emotional rollercoaster he had been on since the nightmare a few hours ago. _

_ Tommy’s face went on a journey that had Tubbo’s head spinning, before he landed on blank confusion. “Fin-find you, wh-” He paused before something sparked and his eyes widened a tad bit. “Tubbo, how long have you been in here?” _

_ Tubbo blinked. “Since… Since the fight. Dream made Ranboo go here and handed me off and… Why?” _

_ His best friend was quiet for a single second before a disbelieving laugh barked out of him. “That  _ bastard!” _ He shouted, a mix of anger and defeat that Tubbo immediately worried about, though he wasn’t too sure why. “Of course he’d do that, why didn’t I think he’d do this.” _

_ “What are you talking about?” _

_ “Tubbo, we’ve been in the same damn place since the beginning. I’ve been in a damned tiny cell since the fight.” _

_ “Wh-But Dream, he…” The vagueness started to click into place and he hated that he had easily believed the masked man without issue. He sighed and felt decades leave him. “He lied to get to me… again.” _

_ “We’ll get back at him, Tubs.” _

_ Tubbo laughed and shook his head. “What are you even doing here if you’ve been here since the beginning?” _

_ Tommy glanced behind them to the door of the cell, where Sam still stood, looking away from the reunited teens. The moment Tubbo saw him, a spark of hope sprang to life. Maybe… Maybe Sam hadn’t really betrayed them… If he did this, anyway, maybe he wasn't too bad. _

_ As if sensing he was being watched, the creeper hybrid looked to the two of them, his face hidden by his mask. _

_ Tommy stood up, pulling Tubbo with him before he could do anything himself, and tugged him along to the entrance of the cell, only stopping when Sam stood in the doorway, keeping them in the cell. _

_ “Why’d you do this? Let us see each other if Dream had been trying to keep us separate,” Tommy demanded. _

_ Sam fidgeted for a bit, shuffling his feet before he appeared to find his words. “I can’t do much. I’m a builder. I can’t…” He took a hissing breath and fiddled with his warden pin. “I can’t go against Dream very publicly, but I can do what I can to help, even if it’s just being able to let you two see each other for a bit. I didn’t… didn’t think he’d use this thing for this.” _

_ An angry hiss and patches of Sam’s body glowed like a creeper about to explode, and Tubbo took a half-step back. The hybrid wasn’t one to get truly angry, since he had a Spark that was rare for hybrids to have which meant he could literally explode if he felt truly threatened or angry enough. _

_ Soon, though, the hissing faded, as did the glow, and Sam slumped his shoulders. “I can give the two of you another hour before I have to take Tommy back to his cell,” he said, and Tubbo deflated a bit. _

_ “When can I see him again, then?” Tommy asked. _

_ “I… I could try to make it a morning thing? After your morning meals and you can have roughly two hours together, before Dream would normally come to check in,” Sam answered. “I wish I could do more, but this is the most I can with the little power I have as warden.” _

_ The two nodded after a moment, and Tommy pulled Tubbo away from the door, towards the bed to sit on it. Both had the same thought.  _ If they only had an hour today, they’d make the most of each other’s company.

* * *

It took a couple days for Ranboo to find Sam, and he wasted no time this time.

“Sam,” he spoke up as the other hybrid walked, and when Sam jumped, Ranboo jumped in response. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!”

The creeper hybrid cursed in a weird hiss-click but shook his head. “It’s fine, I wasn’t… Do you need something, Ranboo?”

“Uh, you could say that. I wanted to talk about…” He glanced away from the older hybrid and shuffled his feet, lowering his voice before continuing. “Tubbo and Tommy.”

Sam was quiet for a moment before he nodded. “Come, follow me. Best get comfortable, I feel this may be a long conversation.”

Ranboo sighed in relief and followed with a nod. They did not speak the entire way to Sam’s base, until finally they were seated across from another at a small table.

“What did you want to talk about Tommy and Tubbo for?” Sam asked carefully.

“I… I don’t remember much of that day,” Ranboo admitted, scratching the back of his neck in an attempt to settle his nerves. “But, I remember you taking Tubbo away.” He laughed, but it was hollow. “Somehow, that’s something I  _ can’t _ forget.”

“What else do you remember?”

“Tubbo saying he’d always be my friend,” he almost whispered the words, leaning onto the table and roughly pushed his hair out of his face. “Dream telling me some order and I just… followed, I think. Before that, I remembered going to see Dream, because he was looking for me, but then…” He shook his head, hands keeping his hair out of his face as he did so. “What did I do, Sam? Where did I take Tubbo?”

The older hybrid sighed wearily, dropping his head forward slightly. “I… okay. Do you want brutal honesty or a little bit of cushioning?”

“Honest. Please. I know I hurt them, but…” He shook his head again, dropping his gaze to the table.

“You brought Tubbo to the prison, or Pandora’s Vault, whatever. Dream had commissioned me to build and warden it,” Sam stated evenly. “You told me I was to bring him to the large cell, Dream’s orders, and then shut up like you never spoke in the first place.”

Ranboo put his head to the table, shutting his eyes as if he were in physical pain.  _ Prison. _ He sent his friends to  _ prison. _

“How could he say he was still my friend after that…” He muttered, not even realizing he had spoken at all until Sam answered his supposed thought.

“That kid doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. I don’t know everything that’s happened around here, but Tubbo’s always been almost fatally loyal to friends, disregarding their faults. Why do you think he’s still friends with Tommy after everything that happened at the community house?”

Ranboo only groaned in answer, wrapping his arms over his head, before he slowly came back up, glancing up at the older hybrid hesitantly. “Is, is Tommy at this prison as well?”

Sam nodded.

“Sam… I need to save them. I, this isn’t something I wanted, ever, to happen. I, I need to make it up to them,” Ranboo took a breath, praying he was doing the right thing by saying it aloud. “Sam, could you help me save my friends?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally don't know how to write it, but just know Sam and Ranboo manage to free Tommy and Tubbo, so that's why it ends like this.  
> I don't think I'll be writing another continuation. Still, this was super, super fun to write and I was so happy to get so many comments asking for a continuation!  
> Anyway, who else is absolutely worried about tomorrow?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I always look forward to hearing back from people, and if you don't know what to say, you can follow any of these feedback options, and I'll be sure to answer!  
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